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steven miller seems to be the one who got fired for several reasons. first of all, he's only the acting commissioner now, but he was the number two, and we learned this week he was told about targeting tea party and other groups a year ago. and he never disclosed that to members of congress who were investigating this very thing. so they weren't happy about that. that was a big black eye. also, the irs is an agency that purposely has very few political appointees, only two. so it was easy to let him, a political appointee, go, than a civil servant, who has a lot more protections. >> so they can't fire a civil servant? >> no, no, they can. it's just not as easy. there are a lot more protections for civil servants and especially so for irs employees. it's definitely doable. it's definitely possible. but it's just not as -- you can't do it as swiftly without perhaps having some repercussions, as the president wanted to do, clearly, with steven miller. >> and miller was supposed to testify friday at the hearing at the house. what's going to happen there no
steven miller seems to be the one who got fired for several reasons. first of all, he's only the acting commissioner now, but he was the number two, and we learned this week he was told about targeting tea party and other groups a year ago. and he never disclosed that to members of congress who were investigating this very thing. so they weren't happy about that. that was a big black eye. also, the irs is an agency that purposely has very few political appointees, only two. so it was easy to...
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that statement from steve miller, the acting, steven miller, the acting commissioner of the irs. the president was very visibly upset in his statement in the east room of the white house moments ago, saying that he will not tolerate the kind of behavior that was implemented over at the irs. much more on this story coming up. >>> other breaking news. there's a lot of it happening. just moments ago, a jury in arizona found jodi arias guilty of extreme cruelty in the first-degree murder of her ex-boyfriend, meaning she could now face the death penalty. let's bring in our senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin. the extreme cruelty part, and i've been saying for days, i wouldn't expect that was a hard verdict in phase two of this trial. what will be much more difficult will be phase three, jeffrey, whether or not the jury decides she deserves to die. >> given the viciousness of this attack, i agree. this was not a difficult call for the jury. but the third step for the jury is a very simple question, does she deserve to die. that is likely to be much more complicated, and the jury will t
that statement from steve miller, the acting, steven miller, the acting commissioner of the irs. the president was very visibly upset in his statement in the east room of the white house moments ago, saying that he will not tolerate the kind of behavior that was implemented over at the irs. much more on this story coming up. >>> other breaking news. there's a lot of it happening. just moments ago, a jury in arizona found jodi arias guilty of extreme cruelty in the first-degree murder...
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you just got the letter that the treasury secretary wrote to steven miller, clearly this administration trying to show they are angry about this scandal. what else does the letter say? >> erin, i mean, this is a letter you don't see released very often in washington and to the public. i'll show it to you right here, this is it. this say letter from the treasury secretary jack lu to acting irs commissioner stephen miller and it says "while i very much appreciate your many years of loyal service at the irs, i find it necessary at this time to request your resignation." short and to the point. and another sign that the president is starting to get serious about this scandal. with a growing chorus of criticism that president only offered a weak response to political targeting at the irs, mr. obama seized the moment to get tough. >> today secretary lu took the first step by requesting and cepting the resignation of the acting commissioner of the irs because given the controversy surrounding this audit, it's important to institute new leadership. >> at a hearing on the widening scandal, eric
you just got the letter that the treasury secretary wrote to steven miller, clearly this administration trying to show they are angry about this scandal. what else does the letter say? >> erin, i mean, this is a letter you don't see released very often in washington and to the public. i'll show it to you right here, this is it. this say letter from the treasury secretary jack lu to acting irs commissioner stephen miller and it says "while i very much appreciate your many years of...
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. >>> steven miller today admitted the irs targeted tea party groups. repeatedly he said it wasn't politically motivated. he said there were, quote, foolish mistakes for people looking to lighten their work load. an inspector general notified obama officials at the treasury department about this investigation last june. that would mean obviously the obama administration was aware of the irs targeting conservative groups during the presidential campaign. sources, though, tell our jessica yellin at the white house says it wasn't notified. the gop is crying foul. >>> first on cnn, john king has just learned the gop-led investigations into benghazi will carry on into the summer and beyond. the five chairman of the five separate house committees compared notes at a meeting organized by john boehner and eric cantor. the leadership's message, keep demanding access to documents and witnesses and keep the conspiracy theory rhetoric to a minimum. one participant in the meeting said, the facts are on our side. we can take it slow, and take it calmly. >>> now, "out
. >>> steven miller today admitted the irs targeted tea party groups. repeatedly he said it wasn't politically motivated. he said there were, quote, foolish mistakes for people looking to lighten their work load. an inspector general notified obama officials at the treasury department about this investigation last june. that would mean obviously the obama administration was aware of the irs targeting conservative groups during the presidential campaign. sources, though, tell our...
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tell me this, why is the acting commissioner, steven miller, why want there a real one? why has he had to go, when from what i hear he was not actually running the irs when all of this went on? >> you asked the money question because that is what everybody was e-mailing me to ask. no, he was not in charge when this happened. but you know, the man on top always takes the fall when something gets screwed up, bottom line, right? he was not in charge when all of this went down. but he is in he was in charge when there was misrepresentation of this problem to congress. so he has to take some responsibility for that. and the auditor's report found there was shoddy management when he was on top. so he has to take responsibility for that. and in a letter to his staff, he said look, we have to resteady the boat and it will reset the team. i don't think it will end here, but it is a start, piers. >> and the fallout from the ap scandal, this morning, the obama administration wanted to reintroduce legislation to protect the identities of those sources from federal officials, where i
tell me this, why is the acting commissioner, steven miller, why want there a real one? why has he had to go, when from what i hear he was not actually running the irs when all of this went on? >> you asked the money question because that is what everybody was e-mailing me to ask. no, he was not in charge when this happened. but you know, the man on top always takes the fall when something gets screwed up, bottom line, right? he was not in charge when all of this went down. but he is in...
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tell me this, why was steven miller -- and by the way, why wasn't there a real one? why has he had had to go, when from what i hear he wasn't actually running the irs? >> you ask the money question. that's what everyone is e-mailing me to ask. no, he wasn't in charge when this happened. but, you know, the man on top is the guy who always takes the fall when something gets screwed up, bottom line, right? so he was -- this is -- he was not in charge when all this went down. but he is in charge now, and was in charge when there was misrepresentation of this problem to congress. so he has to take some responsibility for that. and this auditor's report also found there was shoddy management when he was on top. and so he has to take responsibility for that, as well. and in a letter to his staff, he said, look, we need to sort of resteady the boat and this will help reset the team. i don't think it will end here, but it's a start, piers. >> okay, dana, we've also got the fallout from the a.p. scandal. this morning the obama administration asked senator chuck schumer to rein
tell me this, why was steven miller -- and by the way, why wasn't there a real one? why has he had had to go, when from what i hear he wasn't actually running the irs? >> you ask the money question. that's what everyone is e-mailing me to ask. no, he wasn't in charge when this happened. but, you know, the man on top is the guy who always takes the fall when something gets screwed up, bottom line, right? so he was -- this is -- he was not in charge when all this went down. but he is in...
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miller testifying and we learned that treasury officials, some appointed by the obama administration, knew before the 2012 election that the irs inspector general was investigating this. so that brings a whole new question. >> well, it does. so i suppose one might say, gee, why didn't they inform people in the white house? why didn't they inform people on the hill? the important thing here, and the thing that has been really kind of brushed aside by some reports on this is that those officials were not told of the conclusions of the investigation. that's really critical. and i can tell you that had they been informed of the conclusions, which, by the way, had not at that point even been reached yet, we would have been having a hearing yesterday on the possibility that senior treasury officials or the white house interfered in the investigation. so it was actually the absolutely correct thing for those senior treasury officials to do to stand down, let the inspector general complete his work and not get involved. >> but you can understand the -- there was some outrage last night over
miller testifying and we learned that treasury officials, some appointed by the obama administration, knew before the 2012 election that the irs inspector general was investigating this. so that brings a whole new question. >> well, it does. so i suppose one might say, gee, why didn't they inform people in the white house? why didn't they inform people on the hill? the important thing here, and the thing that has been really kind of brushed aside by some reports on this is that those...
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miller, testify on friday. you can bet that that and many other questions are going to be asked of him, because it doesn't fully explain it because it simply says that officials up to the senior level, relatively senior level, knew and even though they said they stopped it, they didn't stop it. in fact, there still is in this irs inspector general's report kind of a back and forth with the irs about whether they fixed it as we speak. >> how are they going to keep their jobs, i have no idea. dana, we'll have more on this shortly in the program. we'll talk to you again and also david gergen. >>> we want to turn to the alleged spy plot and what it may mean for the boston bombing investigation. since the attack russian intelligence officials have been cooperating with the u.s. as investigators try to learn more about the accused bombers, tamerlan and dzhokhar tsarnaev. today, a cold war flashback. russian officials expelled a u.s. diplomat they claim is an undercover cia officer, saying they caught him red-handed d
miller, testify on friday. you can bet that that and many other questions are going to be asked of him, because it doesn't fully explain it because it simply says that officials up to the senior level, relatively senior level, knew and even though they said they stopped it, they didn't stop it. in fact, there still is in this irs inspector general's report kind of a back and forth with the irs about whether they fixed it as we speak. >> how are they going to keep their jobs, i have no...
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steven miller admitted in this hearing that the irs singled out groups, political groups using conservative key words like tea party but did not use traditionally liberal words like progressive. that did not help his argument that the mistakes may have been stupid but not partisan. >> so help you god. >> i do. >> reporter: two days after getting fired the irs chief apologized. >> what happened here was that foolish mistakes were made by people trying to be more efficient in their work load selection. >> reporter: yet steven miller repeatedly insisted inappropriate irs scrutiny of conservative groups was not politically motivated. >> it was a mistake and not an act of partisanship. >> reporter: his explanation? back in 2010 the irs was bombarded with applications for tax-exempt status so they came up with a shortcut using words like tea party to i.d. groups. >> look, they get 70,000 applications in there for 150 or 200 people to do. they triage those. >> reporter: but for four hours, he couldn't or wouldn't answer many questions. >> actually i do not know that. i don't -- i don't recall. i d
steven miller admitted in this hearing that the irs singled out groups, political groups using conservative key words like tea party but did not use traditionally liberal words like progressive. that did not help his argument that the mistakes may have been stupid but not partisan. >> so help you god. >> i do. >> reporter: two days after getting fired the irs chief apologized. >> what happened here was that foolish mistakes were made by people trying to be more efficient...
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and there is a current irs commissioner serving right now steven miller who is going to testify later this week. i'm told he was informed about this targeting in may of 2012 which is a full year ago. republicans in the senate and the house who are investigating this they tell us he neglected to inform them what he knew and that he had information about this. he had various opportunities to do so, they say, and he simply did not. >> dana bash, thanks so much. in a few minutes i will be talking to michigan congressman sander levin of the house and means committee which will hold a hearing on the irs actions this friday. the outrage over the controversy is bringing both sides of the political aisle together. you've heard the response from some congressional republicans but the left is also weighing in. the aclu among them. the chief of staff for the group's washington legislative office saying, quote, even the appearance of playing partisan politics with the tax code is about as constitutionally troubling as it gets. join me is ben whisner. thank you for being with us. >> glad to be here
and there is a current irs commissioner serving right now steven miller who is going to testify later this week. i'm told he was informed about this targeting in may of 2012 which is a full year ago. republicans in the senate and the house who are investigating this they tell us he neglected to inform them what he knew and that he had information about this. he had various opportunities to do so, they say, and he simply did not. >> dana bash, thanks so much. in a few minutes i will be...
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. >> reporter: acting irs commissioner steven miller was informed of the targeting last year but never told congress. >> how about answering our questions? >> reporter: on capitol hill, he refused to answer reporters' questions about why. now, miller is going to have to answer that question on friday when he testifies before the house ways and means committee. the inspector general report did answer one key question, which is whether or not this was politically motivated especially by the white house. what this determines is that the people who decided to target tea party and other groups were not influenced by anyone outside the white house. what it calls first line or low level management officials approved the references but, carol, it could not specifically determine who had been involved in creating those criteria in the first place. >> does that mean it determined that these actions were not politically motivated? >> reporter: what it determined is that from the people they interviewed that this was done as a time saving measure not as a way to politically target these groups. bu
. >> reporter: acting irs commissioner steven miller was informed of the targeting last year but never told congress. >> how about answering our questions? >> reporter: on capitol hill, he refused to answer reporters' questions about why. now, miller is going to have to answer that question on friday when he testifies before the house ways and means committee. the inspector general report did answer one key question, which is whether or not this was politically motivated...
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. >> acting irs commissioner steven miller was informed of the targeting last year, but never told congress. >> how about answering our questions? >> on capitol hill today, he refused to answer reporters' questions about why. now, wolf, miller is going to be one of the witnesses on friday, when the house is holding a hearing. they're going to have a lot of information to go through from this inspector general report. one of the questions that susan collins raised in that piece is, is what everybody is asking, whether this was politically motivated. part of the answer is in this report, the inspector general said agents did not consider the public perception of using politically sensitive criteria when identifying these cases. but then the inspector general also says it could not specifically determine who had been involved in creating the criteria. but it does say it wasn't the higher ups, it was kind of first line officials. one other question that you asked before, which is a very important question, whether or not anybody outside of the irs was involved in creating these criteria. was it
. >> acting irs commissioner steven miller was informed of the targeting last year, but never told congress. >> how about answering our questions? >> on capitol hill today, he refused to answer reporters' questions about why. now, wolf, miller is going to be one of the witnesses on friday, when the house is holding a hearing. they're going to have a lot of information to go through from this inspector general report. one of the questions that susan collins raised in that piece...